Walmart, Waymo To Test Self-driving Shuttle Service For Shoppers

July 26, 2018

Waymo, the autonomous vehicle arm of Google-parent Alphabet Inc., will begin trials with Walmart this summer to shuttle around shoppers in self-driving minivans, the companies announced. The pilot program will begin in a suburban region of Phoenix, where Waymo is already running tests. Passengers will be involved during testing of the program, which Walmart calls a “self-driving grocery chauffeur.” Tom Ward, Walmart’s vice president of digital operations, said Walmart employees will fill the customers’ orders and Waymo will pick them up. For now, the service will be tested only with about 400 Waymo users known as “early riders.” Read more here.